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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Are you familiar with the classic novella,The Little Prince, the most famous work of the French aristocrat, writer, poet, and pioneering
aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944)?

If you do, then, it must be easy for you to recall how the
Little Prince met the fox and how their conversation went. But in case you find
it hard to recall, here, let me refresh your memory, though, pardon me if I skip
some lines just to drive home my point:

* * *

“Come and play with me,” proposed the Little Prince. “I am so unhappy.”

“I cannot play with you,” the fox said. “I am
not tamed.”

“Ah! Please excuse me,” said the Little Prince. But, after
some thought, he added: “What does that mean — ‘tame’?”

* * *

“It is an act too often
neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties."

“‘To establish ties’?”

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more
than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I
have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am
nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame
me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world.
To you, I shall be unique in all the world...”

* * *

“Please--tame me!” said the fox.

“I want to, very much,” the Little Prince replied. “But I have not much time.I
have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand.”

“One only understands the
things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have
no more time to understand anything. They buy things already made at the shops.
But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no
friends any more. If you want a friend,
tame me...”

“What must I do, to tame you?” asked the Little Prince.

“You must be very
patient,” replied the fox. “First you
will sit down at a little distance from me – like that – in the grass. I shall
look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing.Words
are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to
me, every day...”

* * *

To drive home my point, let’s follow the lines above in bold
letters.

I know of not a few friends who have grown “so unhappy” with what’s going on in
our society this post-election period. But I have my little reflection and a theory
of what’s going on. When the players are not friends, no game is possible. “I cannot play with you,” the fox said.
“I am not tamed.”

To tame means “to
establish ties”. But sad to say, in our country, “it is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. Why do you think?

“I want to, very much, but
I have not much time,” said the Little Prince. “I have friends to discover, and a great
many things to understand.” What an irony! In our desire to have friends
and to understand many great things, we often neglect the most important
ingredient: the art of taming.

“One only understands the
things that one tames,” said the fox. “If you want a friend, tame me...” The
fox is actually giving us a hint – the key to what we are looking for. If we are
looking for friendships – and collaboration, solidarity, harmonious
relationship, teamwork, healing and reconciliation, etc. – we should learn the art of taming. Do you really want to
understand “a great many things”? Remember the wisdom of the fox: you only understand
the things that you tame!

If you want to learn the
art of taming, “you must be very
patient,” said the fox. You must learn when and how “to say nothing” for “words
are the source of misunderstandings.”

So, what do you think we need most this post-election period?
I think we need to learn how to tame each other.

* * *

Last year, Pope Francis reminded the Italian bishops, during
the opening of their Annual General Assembly in Vatican, “to act more like pastors than ‘pilots’ telling the faithful what to do…In reality, laypeople who have an
authentic Christian formation do not need a ‘bishop-pilot’ or a
‘monsignor-pilot’ or clerical input to assume their responsibilities at every
level from the political to the social, from the economic to the legislative.
Instead, they need a ‘bishop-pastor’,” the Pope explained.

I think, a “bishop-pastor” should know how to tame the sheep
(or the fox). What do you think?

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

How
many of you have visited the famous Underground River of Puerto Princesa? Can
you still recall the different images depicted in the marvelous rock formations
of stalactites and stalagmites? The corn, mushrooms,
eggplants, the human heart. Do you remember the “Cathedral”, a huge dome where
you could see rock formations looking like images of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
the Nativity, and the Three Kings?

Then,
the guide would explain to you how the stalactites
and the stalagmites were formed. A
stalagmite is “a type of rock
formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of
material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings.” Its corresponding rock
formation is a stalactite that hangs
from the ceiling, formed from the dripping of liquid that carries minerals from
the surface. The mnemonics have been
developed for which word refers to which type of formation: stalactite has a letter “C” for “ceiling”
and stalagmite has a “G” for “ground”.

When
stalagmites and stalactites meet each other, they form solid pillars. There is
one huge pillar that you can see inside the majestic Underground River of
Puerto Princesa. A huge pillar of stone or a large fragment of rock that is very
strong is called in Latin language “Saxum”.

St.
Josemaría nicknamed Blessed Alvaro del Portillo “Saxum”. In a letter he wrote to Don Alvaro in March 1939, St. Josemaría
said: “May Jesus watch over you for me, Saxum. That really is what you are. I
can see that the Lord is giving you strength and making my word come true in
you: saxum! Thank him for it and be
faithful to him, in spite of… so many things. […] If you could only see how
greatly I desire to be holy and to make you all holy! A hug and a blessing. Mariano.”
(St. Josemaría, “Letter to Alvaro del Portillo”, Burgos, March 23, 1939).

If you
notice, in his letter to Blessed Alvaro, St. Josemaría already pointed out why
his first successor was like saxum, a
rock to him. “I can see that the Lord is
giving you strength and making my word come true in you: saxum!” If Don Alvaro was faithful and dependable like a huge
pillar of stone, it was because God continuously showered him with numerous
graces. It was also because Don Alvaro corresponded generously to God’s gifts. The
more God’s grace drips from above like the stalactites,
the more Don Alvaro grows from below like the stalagmites!

What
a beautiful picture to behold for us as we celebrate his second feast today
since his beatification last September 27, 2014! We, too, are like stalagmites that rise from the ground thanks
to the continuous dripping of God’s stalactites
of grace. God’s stalactite has a
letter “C” in it but it does not stand for “ceiling”; rather, it stands for “Christ”.
Slowly but surely, as God’s grace drips unto us, we are being formed into the
likeness of Christ.

When
the stalactite of God’s grace is met with
the stalagmite of our generous correspondence
and cooperation, we can also become a “saxum”
to others. Let us, therefore, learn not to put hindrance for God’s grace to
work in our lives. Like the Good Shepherd in today’s Gospel, Blessed Alvaro also
taught us how to be generous collaborators of God’s grace, through his example of fidelity even in small
things and a life full of sacrifices.

A little anecdote: “St. Josemaría established
as a general rule that every priest of Opus
Dei should have, prior to ordination, a doctorate in a secular field as
well as a doctorate in an ecclesiastical discipline. But as it happened, the
first three priests were all engineers, and at the time that they were
ordained, even the highest-level technical schools in Spain did not grant
doctorates. So Blessed Alvaro, because he could not get a doctorate in
engineering, signed up for the Philosophy and Literature program at Universidad
Central, in Madrid. He was however exempted from class attendance. And so
having done the course work on his own, he obtained his licentiate on April 24,
1943 and his doctorate a year later, on May
12, 1944, (72 years ago today). His dissertation was titled “The First Spanish Expeditions to California”.
Later it was published as a book, a quite lengthy one, under the title 'Discoveries and Explorations on the Coasts
of California.'” (Facebook, Alvaro del Portillo Daily).

For
Bishop Alvaro, our pains and sacrifices can actually be very meaningful. They are
never senseless or futile. In April 19, 1990, when he visited a daughter of
his, named Camino Sanciñena, who met
a terrible accident at the end of January and was still in a very serious
condition in an isolation ward of Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza, Spain, --
practically her whole body was covered with burns – he told her “that even though this is hard to
understand, pain is actually a caress from God”.

Pain
and suffering can be a source of joy. The whole life of Blessed Alvaro is a
testimony to this truth. The words of St. Paul addressed to the Colossians in
the First Reading today attest to it: “Itmakesmehappytosuffer for you, as I am suffering
now, and in my own body to do what I can tomake upallthathasstillto beundergonebyChristforthe sakeofhisbody,theChurch.”St. Paul could endure his sufferings because
Christ is in him, “Christ in us, our hope
of glory”.“ItisforthisIstrugglewearilyon,” he said, “helpedonlybyhis powerdrivingmeirresistibly.”

Our
struggles and difficulties in life contribute a lot so that Christ may be
formed in us. They can be channels of God’s grace dripping unto us so that we
may grow and become stronger like the stalagmites.
Conversely, it is only when we allow Christ to be formed in us can we really
endure and find meaning in our sacrifices and pains. Hence, allow yourselves to
be formed by God’s grace. Correspond generously to His grace so that you can
become like huge rocks for others to depend on.

Through
the intercession of Blessed Alvaro and St. Josemaría, may we grow in our
fidelity to grace and perseverance in our struggles. May we become like saxum to others. Amen.

This question shows the degree of the faithful’s confusion
nowadays on the legitimacy of the Catholic ministers’ involvement in political
affairs. To what extent should priests and bishops get involved in the coming elections?

Let’s be clear, first, about certain facts!

Firstly, priests and bishops participate in the coming elections by casting their votes,
thereby, exercising their rights as citizens of this country. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches
that “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it
morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend
one’s country” (CCC, 2240).

Secondly, the Church clearly prohibits priests and bishops to run for public office as it is “unbecoming
to their state” (Canon 285). They must not actively campaign, endorse or
publicly support particular candidates or political parties.

In the same manner, priests and bishops are also advised not
to tell the people who not to vote for.
Either to endorse or to oppose a political candidate or party is divisive;
hence, it is “unbecoming” of Church ministers who are supposed to gather, not
to scatter, the flock.

But I agree with Fr. Dwight Longenecker in his article entitled
“Should a Priest Comment on Politics?” published in his blog, Patheos, on February 22, 2016, (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2016/02/should-a-priest-comment-on-politics.html),
in saying that “Maybe we shouldn’t get involved in politics, but we can
certainly comment on morality. Indeed, it is our duty to comment on the
morality or immorality of certain issues”. If I may quote lengthily this priest-blogger:

“If a party or candidate supports abortion, genocide or
euthanasia we must speak out about it. If a candidate or party supports
indiscriminate deportation or incarceration we should speak out about it. If a
party or candidate supports torture, killing of innocent civilians and
indiscriminate bombing we should speak out about it. If a candidate or party
supports the widespread and indiscriminate use of capital punishment we should
speak out about it. If a candidate or party supports the oppression of the
poor, an unfair wage and destruction of the family we should speak out about
it. If a candidate or party supports the breakdown of marriage, sexual
immorality and moral corruption of the young we should speak out about it.”

In other words, while Catholic clergy are advised not to
actively interfere with political affairs, they are, not only allowed, but even
expected to shed light on moral issues involving these affairs. So when priests
and bishops comment on politics, it should not be about political concerns like who to vote for or not. Instead, they
should comment on moral issues affecting the Catholic faithful’s exercise of their
political rights.

As Fr. Longenecker rightly points out, “Commenting on the
morality of issues is something a priest is called to. When there is evil in
the world, he is called to exercise a prophetic ministry. This is not being ‘political’;
it is being human. It is being Catholic.”